fredk

My stitching clamp is this style. I have a bar magnet on the outside of each jaw, just down from the sloped part. One magnet each side just about halfway down between the jaw and that long slot, towards an edge. These are N35 magnets, about 20 mm x 10 mm x 2 mm thick. Strong enough to hold needles and thread Inside the the uprights I have one magnet on each upright, just about near the top of the slot, but to the outside of it. On these I hang the sewing awl, the end of the handle rests on that block of wood in the centre. I also hang a wing-nut spanner. I have another magnet in the centre of one side of that block of wood. These magnets are N52, round, about 12 mm x 2 mm thick. The awl is held at its ferrule. The N52 is strong enough to hold the awl in place when it stands off by about 1 to 1.5mm You can add magnets to each other to increase their strength. You can go to a thickness equal to or below their surface size. eg, you can add 5 magnets of 12mm x 2mm together on top of each other to get the equivalence of one magnet 12mm x 10mm. Once you go more than that you start to get a reverse and get less power.

In saddle stitching, best practice is to hold a needle in each hand as you stitch, to pull the threads tight. On my stitching thingy I find the magnets handy to hang a needle on whilst rewaxing the thread, or just in between sewing sessions. Another magnet, inside the jaws, low down, holds the sewing awl. handy for opening holes; I pre-punch my sewing holes but sometimes an awl is needed to open up a hole

I used to use a newspaper wrapped around a piece of lead pipe to tap on the heads of 'nice doggies', who weren't, when I was a postie. A few taps now and then, nowt too hard, and the dogs got the message. I use cereal boxes as well for patterns. Sometimes I print a pdf pattern out on thin card from Hobbycraft or £world, and if necessary paste it with Copydex to cereal box card to thicken it up. I use a walking stick with a large brass knob grip on it. Without actually having to use it its seen off a few trouble makers and made a few others change their minds. I let them know about the brass knob just by dropping the stick on the floor and as I pick it up I tap the floor a couple of times. They get the message. I have a couple of Dieselpunks patterns. He does a good instructional video to go with them too

I have several magnets on my stitching clam thingy. I have some for the needles and for an awl. Use N50 or N52 grade magnets.

A 32 oz bottle is available. afair 32 oz is 2 US pints = 1 US Quart? afaik all the colours in the Oil dye range and the standard acrylic range are available in 4 oz and 32 oz bottles

Mink oil is good. I've only ever had it tins of cream as well, never seen it as 'oil' No make of nfo I can recommend as what I can get in my country you may not be able to get in yours (actually, I think my last batch is from Tandy) Whilst vegetable oil and olive oil are good enough I've found veg oil can go 'off' after a while making the leather smell whiffy, and the leather is in constant need of more olive oil, it just seems to dry out of the leather.

Both the water and the dye are removing the natural oils. To soften the leather again put on a little pure neatsfoot oil. On this site most of us advise to use pure nfo and not nfo compound as the compound has petroleum distillates in it which may be detrimental to the leather Don't put too much nfo on. I use a mix of beeswax, carnauba wax and nfo. I apply that, rub it in and buff it. One coat is usually enough to bring the leather back

It is very possible and rather easy to set a copper or soft brass rivet with a press. I've done it when relining the brake shoes for my Austin 7. The linings are held on by 8 soft brass rivets which have a flat round head which goes into a countersunk hole on the shoe lining. Where the rivet comes through the cast & welded metal shoe the rivet needs a head formed. I used to do it with a hammer and bar but if the assembly moves the lining can fracture so I started using an old vintage press tool. The press is like a C clamp. On the foot is a steel disc for the flat rivet head and on the top end is a screw bar with a concave hole in it. Simply screwing the press closed causes the rivet to squash down until it has a nice round head on it. It took far longer to type this than it would doing a rivet on the brake shoe. In fact I was able to rivet on 8 brake shoe linings in about 30 minutes, without fear of damaging either almost irreplaceable brake shoes or hard to get shoe linings.

@YinTx, sorry no photos. I just checked and I have no photos, nor a book cover available to photograph

If I may say how I do it. I take a length of ribbon, about the length of the book cover plus about 7cm. I fold each end and glue the last 1 cm of each end back on itself. One end I glue centrally in the book cover, along the top. When I then sew around the book cover the ribbon gets sewn in place too.

grande, loverly-jubbly and all that, but I'm still getting 'Not Secure' in the address bar. Will this change?

The secretary of the historical presentation group I was in had the list. An official Gov list. We had the complete list but only required the part on bladed weapons. It said afair eg. a dirk; as part of the traditional Scots dress, / single edged blade of less than 4 inches length, / chef's knives; in conjunction with work, to and from place of work / that sort of thing. It ran to several pages. Cosh, baton, night-sticks and other were in the blunt instrument section. Even the PSNI sometimes asked us for a copy of the list. Individuals who knew us had recourse to use our info as before; caveat, GB and N.I. laws can differ

Maybe if we looked under the regular UK name; a cosh There is a reverse to this. There is a list of what 'weapons' are legal to carry, if its not on the list then its illegal

A little tale. I had a friend a long time ago who was a professional photographer in London. He still is. He used to carry small canvas money bags filled with pebbles to hang on his tripod as weights. More than once he used one of those bags to whack a mugger over the head. Met arrested my friend for using a 'sap'. First time we'd heard that word. Case was dropped though. That was way back when you couldn't use any force to defend yourself. I was once on the verge of being arrested for using a 'sap'. I used a money bag full of £1 coins to whack an armed robber about the body and head. I laid into him rightly. Thats when I found out owning a sap is illegal in N.I.

Will there be extra expenses incurred? ie, a bit of a donation needed?

Caveat: GB and N.I. laws can be different. Its illegal to own a sap in N.I. But somebody needs to know about it first

I use a single-tooth chisel to make one hole on the apex of the corner. I then work from the corners to the centre of the side or bottom, making a row of holes alternately, so that the last few holes are at about the centre of the side At the moment I cannot see your picture. It might have somat to do with the present site problems

I wasn't getting it, but today I am Windows 10 & Chrome

I'll think about that and maybe give an answer in a couple days time. I'm off very shortly and won't be back until late Saturday evening

yes yes

If I may put some answers 1. use the wool side 2. A piece about the size of the palm of your hand or slightly smaller for most work. A piece about two fingers width for doing small areas and edges. Gather it up into a ball with the flesh side inside. Gather it up tight. 3. You can re-use it with the same colour within 24 hours or less. I find that when the dye fully dries the wool goes hard and is of no further use ~ I've never tried to wash the dye out ~ I just treat the wool pad as disposable 4. the only 'prep' I've done is to run my fingers through the wool to get off any loose hairs and debris. The wool should be about 1/2 inch long. Most comes this length anyways

Sorry, I must qualify that. I like 0.6 mm when its a single thread doing a running stitch but 1.2 mm approx if its a double thread in a saddle stitch If its a normal round thread, 0.6 mm to 0.8 mm hole for a single thread. The thread will squeeze down a bit and the leather will expand a wee bit so the thread will fill the hole. Approx 1.5 to 2 x for double thread in a saddle stitch It will take more of a pull to take the thread through the smaller hole but if its kept well waxed it'll slip through well enough

afaia ALL STITCHING chisels are diamond and only lacing chisels are available in diamond or parallel tooth. The reason most sellers don't say the stitching chisel is diamond tooth is because they all are and its a given PS. We have given you several options. You have now become a Troll. From here on I'm adding you to my ignore list as I do not feed trolls

0.5 to 0.8 mm, depending on your thread. I use flat profile thread and its best in 0.5 / 0.6 mm holes

As far as I am aware, Yes it can be. I had some deer skins, some were as soft and limp as bit of tissue paper, I also had some which was thinner than the soft skins but was very much stiffer, almost like thin cardboard or heavy paper. In my case the thin stiff was too thin for wallets so was used to cover some shields and as a liner in shoulder bags.